The Bay is electric today.

So much excitement in the air.

For the second time in three years, our San Francisco Giants are going to the World Series.

Game One is tomorrow.

I’m listening to Sports Talk radio.

In the car.  Alone.

I don’t really know what’s come over me.

We were at Game 7 last night.

Thanks to my generous parents and their season tickets.

Disgustingly stuffed from stress eating garlic fries.

And nachos.

And ball park dogs.

And pretzels.

Drenched from the torrential rain.

And happy as clams.

I told Dave stats that even he didn’t know.

John Jay was 4 for 5 against Cain this year.

Matt Carpenter?  5 for 6, including a homer in Game 3.

Kruk and Kuip told me that.

Beneath the dripping brim of his TaylorMade hat,

he beamed as I became his temporary sidekick in useless statistical knowledge.

 

Wives, love Jesus and learn stats.

Make your husbands proud.

But seriously.

Love his hobbies.

Be happy when he’s happy.

It’s a game changer.

And let’s do this, Giants.

Happy Thursday.

Our house has been hit with the death plague.

I was it’s first victim.

Then Ashlyn.

Now Kayla.

Dave remains unscathed.

So I’m a tad late on my Mug Swap recap.

And on everything else in life.

Except for Lysol wiping all household surfaces.

I am very up to date on that.

My friend, Kim hosts an annual mug swap to celebrate her blog’s birthday.

It’s all the rage.

Secret Santa style.

In August.

So not really Santa-y at all.

But you get my point.

Secret presents are fun.

I sent a package to Julie.

Which she heart bokehed and posted on Instagram.

Sweet Becky, also a church planters wife, sent a package to me.

The cutest ever Anthro mug.

And a delicious Chai recipe.

I can’t wait to try it.

Thanks, Becky!

And thanks for hosting, Kim!

Oh and speaking of blog parties.

Mark Your Calendars.

Thursday, October 4th.

Amazing goodies from

Happy Days,

Pen and Paint,

CM Handmade,

Joy’s Hope,

Katygirl Designs

and more

up for grabs to one lucky linker.

Browse those pins.

Get to planning.

And testing.

And say goodbye to that huge, clunky button I made last year.

New, fancy one coming soon.

Designed by a trained professional.

You won’t want to miss this.

Tonight our house is quiet.

And we’re all a little sad.

The aftermath of a whirlwind weekend.

With some pretty amazing house guests.

Ten people shared one bathroom.

Which was an adventure in itself.

There were other adventures.

Hotel swimming.

Faux camp firing at Joshua Fest.

Random birthday partying.

With fun glow prizes.

ON STAGE with the Supertones.

Our girls are SPOILED.

Big girls, big couch sleepover-ing.

Tres Leche cake making.

With a cute little sous chef.

I’ll be Pintertesting this on Thursday.

It’s delish.

BYOD Sunday.

D is for dinner.

These nights are my favorite.

Especially when old friends make new friends feel like family.

Sidewalk chalking.

Impromptu Fantasy Drafting.

With a baby assistant.

Spray Painting.

Adios boring walls.

Giants gaming.

On Star Wars Day.

Sneaking out for a date night.

While our girls had one last sleepover.

Talking about life.

And ministry.

And dreams.

It’s fun to dream.

It’s fun to have friends to dream with.

Come back soon, Carson family.

We miss you already.

We’ve had a busy, full summer.

Ashlyn started soccer last week.

The girls start school this week.

Hope Kids had their New Testament Graduation ceremony yesterday.

The craziness of fall is upon us.

I’m excited.

I like crazy.

We took a trip to Southern California a few weeks ago.

It’s an annual event.

Thanks to my generous parentals.

Hello, Newport Coast Villas coy pond.

I think the girls love the coy more than Disneyland.

The family’s all together!

And eating.

With Princess Celestia.

So standard.

Poolside flirting.

Discussing if and how long salt water species could survive in chlorinated water.

Make it stop.

Sunset dinner at Ruby’s.

Shirley temple shakes and Frito chili bags.

Poolside BBQ at the Burns residence.

Blog friend turned real friend.

Twin husbands.

Fun night.

Disneyland!

Tinkerbell shades was excited.

Radiator Springs, Population 57.8 billion.

But worth it.

The new Cars ride was magical.

Our car raced my parents and Ashlyn and they won.

Ashlyn called us losers.

And said “you guys couldn’t do it.”

Thank you, Ashlyn.

My dad’s Disneyland motto?

Just say no to food courts.

So we ate our monogrammed pastries and threatened our children to behave like the fancy people.

It’s a Small Air-Conditioned World.

Our favorite.

With smoothies.

Also, our favorite.

Fun, full day.

We all slept well that night.

And spent the next few days relaxing.

Participating in poolside extracurriculars.

Rainbow tye-dye.

All kinds of hippie awesome.

Coke breaks in the shade.

Swimming is tough work you know.

Sneak-away Fashion Island shopping trips for the girls.

Mom doesn’t understand selfies.

And beach days.

Building sandcastles.

Digging for sand crabs.

Heaven for my rainbow-toed girls.

Thanks so much, Mom and Dad.

We love you!

Hello, busiest weekend in a looooong time.

Hello, Sharon and Ozzy.

All aboard the crazy train.

Hello, beautiful bride.

I’ll be recapping Jamie’s shower in the Pintertest Kitchen this week.

It’s this Thursday.

Are you going to link up?

I would love it if you did.

And I’m sorry that I don’t have a cute new button for you.

Yet.

Blame Dave.

“Hey babe, we need to raise $25,000 in 6 weeks.”

Speaking of.

Hello, MIRACLE.

Almost halfway there.

In TWELVE short days.

God is so good.

And His people are so faithful.

Hello, pastor friends.

Hello, irreplaceable gift.

Hello, awkward hand-holding that I didn’t notice until now.

I love our triple dates.

Hello, Step Up 127: Dance Revolution for Protest Art

Or something like that.

I don’t really know.

Such a tragically, terrible movie.

But with the BEST company.

Baby guuuuurls.

Hello, Hope Kids 5-Day Club!

All week long.

Local friends, come join us!

2 PM – 3:30 PM in Shoreview Park.

Games.

Snacks.

Jesus.

All you need in life.

See you there?

Happy Tuesday, friends.

Happy Wednesday.

I feel the need to sandwich a post between my giveaway and winner announcement.

Be sure to ENTER.

Your chances are excellent.

Also, make these.

The frosting is super thick and heavy and a little stressful to work with.

And they are slightly awkward to eat.

But they are so delicious.

It’s worth the stress and awkwardness.

Speaking of stressful and awkward.

My husband has a new cell phone case.

He has a habit of giving away his cases when people compliment them.

Weird, yes?

I’m sure it has some kind of diagnosis.

So he bought this super cool black hard case/trap door wallet combo.

And gave it away to anybody that said it was super cool.

He was on his third when Uncle Dave complimented last Friday.

So my mom gave him a orange and black camo freebie.

She said it reminded her of the Giants.

It reminds me of a white trash backwoods hunter.

And bad news?

No one is saying they like it.

Help.

This might be my favorite shirt ever.

Hands down.

And so fitting.

She is so chatty lately.

Putting things together.

I’m in awe of her progress.

I chopped my hair off yesterday.

According to My Fitness Pal, it weighed .4 pounds.

So that’s exciting.

Also, we’re getting our carpets cleaned today.

That’s exciting, too.

I need to go move chairs now.

Don’t forget to enter.

Winners announced this Friday!

A fun little photo challenge.

10 photos on the 10th day of the month.

Ready?

Here was our yesterday.

A few of the Hope ladies started a 6 am club.

Group text encouragement to wake up early.

Study God’s word.

Get stuff done.

Be better prepared to start our days.

It’s Day 2.

And I still kind of want to throw my phone at the wall when the text comes my way.

But I know it will be good for me.

And my family.

So I press on.

Rise and Shine!

Oh you know.

A little early morning Madagascar tightrope walking.

Her toes?  Full flex.

Dying.

Summer school drop-off for Ash.

With my new favorite earrings from Hannah.

You should hop on over to her shop and get some.

She might include a nature book for your kids with your order.

I could not love her more.

And the big girls are off to order from our favorite barista.

Dave works at Starbucks a few mornings each week for our health benefits.

He also likes to be out and about.

Not much of a desk/office pastor type.

Which is good because he doesn’t really have an office.

And I love him for it.

And so do our pre-existing medical conditions.

Quick trip to the grocery store and back to school for pick-up.

Where we were met with some drama.

Ashlyn wanted Sasha’s football.

Sasha is a boy.

But Ashlyn said because Sasha sounds like a girl she should get to take his football.

Obviously.

Sorry, Sasha.

Next?

Cake camp.

“I watch too much Cake Boss.”

“I’m going to go wild on this thing!”

-Kayla

Ashlyn and I went home and had our own cake camp.

She was not impressed.

And went back to tightrope walking.

Girl does not lie.

She really did go wild on those things.

Today’s task is a whole cake.

“Where I can really showcase my work, mama…”

Off to Ashley and Kevin’s for an All Star game BBQ.

And a Charlie party.

My girls are obsessed with this little white dog.

Sorry, Charlie.

National League and our Giants represented well.

I think the final score was 103-0.

And Melky won MVP.

And Dave made me tweet something sports related.

It’s all a blur.

A fun, busy 10th!

How was yours?

Hello, fun weekend.

Hello roasting mini-marshmallows and strawberries with toothpicks on a trampoline campfire.

Safety first for the Hill and Johnson children.

Hello, lazy, fall-asleep-again mornings.

And the reason I blog three times a month.

But I’m really working on changing that.

Hello, Single A, $10/ticket baseball games.

Hello, claustrophobic bleachers.

Hello, fun friends to share in the claustrophobia.

Hello, sweet baby. And darling hats.

Hello, creepy mascot that Ashlyn’s not so sure about.

Hello, fireworks!!!!

Ashlyn is sure about them.

Hello, legit baseball game the next day.

Hello, walk-off win.

We love our Giants.

Hello, sundae that cost as much as the Single A game tickets.

But was worth every penny.

Hello, dinner with some favorite friends.

Alana described Ashlyn as “social and chatty” compared to our visit with them last year.

I love that.

Goodbye, weekend.

You were full and fun.

Unrelated, sidenote.

LINK UP THIS THURSDAY!

And I have some fun plans in the works.

Giveaway incentives for linking.

New and improved button to replace ginormous one.

We need to spice things up in here.

Oh, also.

Speaking of spicy.

My friends Kim and Katy are hosting a party.

You don’t want to miss it.

If you really love America, you’ll do it.

Kayla’s birthday party was a success!

A sweltering, melting success.

Our town rarely sees triple digits.

It waits for the day we have to cart 5 huge flats of bottled water, 3 ginormous boxes of granola bars and 200 bags of ice  down a 1/4 mile steep incline into a park with snakes.

Did I say we?

I meant Dave and Uncle Branden.

Detailed post on the nature party in a few.

Also, we just got back from a little Palm Springs vacay.

The desert in June is where pastors go on vacation.

Another sweltering, melting success.

Post coming on that as well.

I know.

It’s hard to wait.

Until then, enjoy my phone photo dump.

Our summer so far.

Lazy mornings with bedhead ballerinas.

Girl is going to need her some serious product when she gets older.

Swimming.

Lots of swimming.

Lots of daredevil catapulting.

Mostly I can’t even watch.

Hope Kids praying for our friend Margaret serving in Nepal.

With an organization that rescues little girls from the trafficking industry.

So sad such an organization is even needed.

So encouraged people like Margaret and her team have the faithfulness to go.

 Spa de Johnson.

Soak your tired tootsies in Pyrex and drink carrot, lemon water.

We’re booking fast so get your appointment soon.

Dinner with friends.

While children and their later summer bedtimes and electronic devices hijack the convo.

Road trips.

To cage fights.

Your average summertime activity for young children.

My brother is a MMA promoter and it’s a family affair.

Girls on programs.

God Bless America.

Dave on ice replenishment and prayer.

Obviously.

Hope guys on parking patrol.

Me on being sure my babies don’t get stolen by scary back woods men in white vans.

Or that beer doesn’t spill on them while they’re playing under the bleachers.

Or that they don’t notice boobs or make comments about inappropriate tattoos.

When’s the next one?

Back to real life.

And $1 summer movies at Tanforan.

Anniversaries.

41 years of married bliss for my parentals.

Slip and Sliding on Father’s Day.

While Father watches the US Open.

They love you, Dave.

Thank you for all you do.

Kobi loves summer.

Or maybe he was just yawning.

Visits from cousins with awesome hammocks.

Now we “100% need one” according to Kayla.

They miss you, April!

Hope Summertime BBQs.

I love these girls.

And can’t wait for the next one.

Making vegetable soup.

Because some days our “June gloom” makes us forget it’s summer.

Ignoring workbooks.

We’ll get to it at some point.

Possibly.

Kayla turns 9 this month.

NINE.

Ouch.

Her party is on Saturday.

A geeky, perfect one.

Clipboards are involved.

She’s excited.

And brushing up on her plant genome identifiers.

And just called from school asking if we can keep the class beta fish for the summer.

Yay!

I’ve been on a diet for a month and a half.

A pretty tough one.

But one that works.

Basic math.

Eat less.

Weigh less.

Not exactly rocket science.

But not the funnest science, either.

You see.

I get crabby when I’m hungry.

But My Fitness Pal is patient.

Do you have this app?

It’s a good one.

You set a daily calorie limit and track every single thing you eat.

It also tracks your weight loss progress.

And you can follow and stalk your friends that are exercising.

While you are sitting on the couch logging the 90 calorie ice cream bar you just ate really, really sloooooowly.

Fun for all.

I’ve sort of become an expert at stretching those 1200 calories as far as humanly possible.

So I thought I’d share a few tips.

Some tried, true and TASTY (promise) recipes.

More to come, I’m sure.

Starvation misery loves company.

Ready?

Breakfast.

I try to stay around 200 calories.

Here is my current favorite option.

Thomas’ Light Hearty Muffin

TJ’s Better ‘n Peanut Butter.

The name is terrible but it doesn’t lie.

Add sliced bananas and a little honey.

You can also sub the bananas and honey for a low sugar fruit spread.

Lunch.

Again, with the 200 calories.

OroWheat Sandwich Thins

Sargento recently came out with 40 calorie thin slices.

Add ham and turkey.

Lettuce, pickles and tomato.

Viola.

And my current favorite, the 200 calorie tostada.

Morningstar Black Bean Burger

Broken taco shell

Light sour cream, lettuce and salsa.

Again.

It’s a DIET.

Don’t scoff at my microscopic tostada.

Snacks.

I need them in my life.

I’ve become a 100 calorie pack EXPERT.

MUST HAVES:

Snackwells Fudge Covered Pretzels

Hostess Chocolate Cupcakes (frozen, preferably)

Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut Bar

TJ’s Light Kettle Corn

Jolly Time 100 Calorie Healthy Pop Kettle Corn

We went to the Giants game last night.

My Fitness Pal wasn’t invited.

Also, there are 50 billion calories in a Ghiradelli hot fudge sundae.

And it was worth every one.